Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Saltopus

      Saltopus is the smallest and lightest dinosaurs which is similar to procompsognathus, was not tall as domestic cat which is weighed as 21b/1 kg.
      Saltopus elginensis is considered to be Scotland's oldest dinosaur. It was discovered by chemist William Taylor, but was donated to the Natural History Museum in London. It was a very little bipedal reptile, roughly 23 inches (60 centimeters) long, discovered in Scotland. It was a late Triassic carnivore and it may have weighed in at approximately two pounds (one kilogram), and had five-fingered hands and a long head with dozens of sharp teeth. None of this can be recognized for certain, as Saltopus is known only from very poor fabric (mostly hind limb fragments).
      As small as it was, its carnivorous diet must have consisted first and foremost of scavenged carcasses or insects. It has been variously recognized as a saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaur; a theropod (a fast-moving bipedal carnivore with clawed digits and hands on the forelimbs); and a close family member of the Herrerasaurus of the Herrerasauria infraorder, but its taxonomy is in argument because only fragmentary remains have been recovered. It may also have been a lagosuchid (a primitive reptile from which the dinosaurs arose) or an ornithosuchian (closely connected cousins of dinosaurs) instead of a true dinosaur. It has also been optional that the supposed Saltopus remains may, in fact, be incomplete remains of some already-identified animal.

Saltopus facts:
Name:     Saltopus elginensis
Size:     2 ft/60cm long
Main Facts:     Four of the spine’s sacral vertebrae were fused to its hips and this is a fairly solid anchor for the long running legs.

Coelophysis

    One of the initial known dinosaurs, Coelophysis ("hollow form") is a small, carnivorous biped from North America. It first appeared in the Late Triassic period, around 210 million years past.

Description

       Coelophysis had a spindly, fragile build, and was about 3 m long, which is small for a dinosaur. However, its long rigid tail and S-shaped neck accounted for most of this length, so it almost certainly weighed no more than 30 kg. Coelophysis was also among the first dinosaurs to have hollow bones to save weight, like the later sauropods. Despite looking very alike to the ancestors of the dinosaurs, the thecodonts, Coelophysis yet bore the defining mark of the dinosaurs — legs located underneath the body rather than out to the sides.
The skull, while long, was very light as it was full of holes to save weight, and was balanced on the end of a long and slender neck that had a very supple bone structure. The minimized skull is a feature seen in all later dinosaurs. Coelophysis had many jagged teeth, for eating any number of small animals.
Each hand had four fingers, but one was also small to be functional. Coelophysis appears to be a transition between the redundant fingers of earlier dinosaurs such as the five-fingered Staurikosaurus, and later theropods which had only two or three. The three-toed feet were around four inches long, and left imitation similar in shape to those of modern birds, and indeed some preserved tracks had formerly been thought to belong to Archaeopteryx, which is almost by definition the "first bird".Coelophysis was found in the Hairy Museum of Natural History history.

Behavior

      There is proof that it ate its own young, since some bones from small Coelophysis are often establish inside the body cavities of larger specimens. On the other hand, it is probable that Coelophysis gave birth to live young and these Coelophysis were being carried by mothers when both were killed. Indeed, no Coelophysis eggs have been establish, though this is inconclusive because eggs are rarely preserved in the fossil record. Also, the bones healthier seem to belong to Coelophysis that are too large to have been pre-natal.
Coelophysis was also almost certainly not above scavenging. The teeth were larger in the upper jaw and curved backwards, and the muscle understanding in the jaw was such that the upper and lower jaws could grind against one another, similar to an electric carving knife.
      The distribution of fossils suggests that it probably enthused and hunted in packs, typical of later small theropods. Coelophysis would in fact have been a fast mover, being light, long-legged and with a stride length of about 75 cm, and could have moved through the upland forests and open plains of Triassic North America with ease.
Two different forms of Coelophysis have been establish, a more graceful form and those of a somewhat more robust build. Originally, these were thought to be different species within the genus Coelophysis, but opinion in the middle of paleontologists is now that these were female and male variants (see: sexual dimorphism) — in fact, many other dinosaurs previously considered distinct species are now being reclassified in this fashion.

Classification

     Coelophysis is a genus in the Coelophysidae (or "Podokesauridae") family, but the correct classification is open to some debate. Although it was certainly a theropod, it may have been a ceratosaur or a theropod basal to the ceratosaur-tetanuran division. Opinion in the middle of paleontologists is currently divided and no conclusion will be reached until a more precise reconstruction can be made.
     To further the bewilderment, the type species of Coelophysis has come under some debate. The original C. bauri may not have been the same species as those at Ghost Ranch, since the original skeletons were fragmentary to say the least. Therefore those at Ghost Ranch were given a new name, Rioarribausaurus. However, this made the confusion still worse since the Ghost Ranch fabric was still known as but this is now known as Coelophysis in much text. In the end, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) voted to make one of the Ghost Ranch samples the actual type specimen for Coelophysis, and arrange of the name Rioarribasaurus altogether, thus with any luck resolving the confusion. The original Coelophysis specimen is now put in its own genus Eucoelophysis ("true Coelophysis") until it can be confidentially assigned to Coelophysis.
In a situation moving many dinosaur genera, many specimens were originally classified as new species but were in fact species of Coelophysis. For example, Talbot initially named C. holyokensis in 1911, but this is now known as Podokesaurus holyokensis. C. posthumus, named by Friedrich von Huene in 1908, also desires reclassification and is tentatively titled Halticosaurus longotarsus at the moment. On the other hand, Edward Drinker Cope named Coelurus longicollis in 1887, two years before Coelophysis, but it is in fact a species of the latter and has now been renamed C. longicollis. Likewise, Tanystropheus willistoni is now C. willistoni.

Coelophysis facts:
Name:          Coelophysis ("hollow form")
Size:         8-10ft or 3m long
Main Facts: The appearance of large coelurosaur was made in 1947 at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico.
                     It s slender, hollow-boned body probably weighed less than 50lb/23kg.
                    The bird like feet had 3 walking toes with sharp claws.

Compsognathus

     Compsognathus was a small theropod dinosaur that lived in the late Jurassic of Europe, with fossil finds from Germany, France and perhaps Portugal. Though traditionally often cited as the least dinosaur, several others are now known to have been smaller (e.g. Microraptor, Parvicursor, and Caenagnathasia).
     Compsognathus dinosaur is known from two almost complete skeletons, one from Germany that is 90 cm long, and one more from France that is 125 cm; other skeletons point to a size range from 70-140 cm. Teeth from Portugal have also been assigned to the genus. Although the French specimen was initially described as a separate species (Compsognathus corallestris), both it and the German specimen are now thought to be Compsognathus longipes. A fractional foot has also been referred to Compsognathus, but this has subsequently been disproved.
     Compsognathus may have had only two fingers, since no bones of a third finger have been established. However, the hands are disarticulated, so this is still unsure. It appears that Compsognathus preyed on small vertebrates, since leftovers of the lizard Bavariasaurus have been found in its thoracic cavity.
     For many years, Compsognathus was the only well known small theropod, and was thus compared to Archaeopteryx as a dinosaurian ancestor or family member of birds. It is now known that many other kinds of dinosaurs were more closely related to birds, including Segnosaurus, Oviraptorosaurus and Deinonychosaurus. It is often argued that Compsognathus lacked feathers, because none are preserved with moreover skeleton, while Archaeopteryx, which was found in the same sediments, always preserves feathers. However, the only feathers always potted on Archaeopteryx are the large ones on the wings and tail.
     Compsognathus was discovered by Dr.Oberndorfer and its skeleton was found in the Natural History Museum, London.The short feathers which cover the body are rarely potted. A relative of Compsognathus, Sinosauropteryx, only has short feathers, so it is likely Compsognathus was feathered too.

Compsognathus facts:
Name:     Compsognathus "Pretty jaw"
Size:     4ft in length and 1ft in height
Main Facts:    

    Compsognathus stood no taller than a chicken.
    The bones were found in the abdominal cavity of the specimen unearthed in Germany.
    It had a longer tail, short and grasping arms with only 2 pincer-like fingers.

Gallimimus

     Gallimimus ("chicken or rooster mimic") is a genus of ornithomimid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period and it was a largest ostrich dinosaur to be discovered to date. It mostly differs from its relatives like Ornithomimus and Struthiomimus. Since it had a long snout ended in a broad and flat-tipped beak and its hands are designed for grasping. Normally it dug out other dinosaurs buried inside the soil with its spade like hands and open with its heavy beak.
Elaphrosaurus Dinosaur
      An exciting discovery in 1965 in the gobi desert of Mongolia had led paleontologist to believe that there were much larger bird like dinosaurs. It was named by paleontologists Rinchen Barsbol in 1972 and it’s complete skeleton was found in Melbourne Museum.
      It was quite ostrich-like dinosaur, with small head, large eyes, long neck, short arms, long legs, and a long tail. A diagnostic character of Gallimimus is a distinctly relative to the humerus length, when compared to other ornithomimids. Each claw bone of gallimimus was about 25cm long and it would have a carried a longer nail.
    gallimimus Dinosaur had flexible arms equipped with long fingers and claws. It useful for the many different tasks of an omnivorous lifestyle, such as getting fruit, catching and holding prey, and digging dirt to find food. The popular science-fiction film Jurassic Park shows the probable predator prey relationship of two dinosaurs like Tarbosaurus and Gallimimus.

Gallimimus facts:

Name:     Gallimimus "chicken or rooster mimic"
Size:     13ft/4m long
Main Facts:     Gallimimus was certainly a large theropod dinosaur and it had given the descriptive name of Deinoncheirus (terrible hand)

Dromiceiomimus

      Dromiceiomimus dinosaur (meaning "emu mimic") was a very fast-moving (perhaps over 40 mph = 64 km/h) bipedal dinosaur from the late Cretaceous time, about 75 to 70 million years ago.
      Dromiceiomimus Dinosaur
      It was about 12 feet (3.6 m) long and weighed concerning 220 to 330 pounds (100 to 150 kg). Its femur (thigh bone) was 468 mm long. This ornithomimid (a bird-like theropod) had extremely long limbs and large eyes. It had a toothless, beaked mouth, and weak jaws; it may have eaten insects, eggs and some meat.
      It was named by D. A. Russell in 1972 and now displayed in the natural history museum, london. The type class is D. brevitertius. Fossils of adults and juveniles have been established in Alberta, Canada. Trivia Dinosaur Comics contains a dromiceiomimus as a major character. It most probably hunted after dark, chasing small mammals and lizards through the deciduous woods.

Dromiceiomimus facts:
Name:     Dromiceiomimus ("emu mimic")
Size:     11 ft long
Main Facts:     The size of brain cavity and eye sockets in the skull shows Dromiceiomimus had exceptionally large brain and huge eyes.

Elaphrosaurus

     Elaphrosaurus ("lightweight lizard") from the Late Jurassic of Tanzania was about 20 ft long and weighed about 210 kilograms.
     Elaphrosaurus Dinosaur was probably a Ceratosaur and its skeleton was found in the Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania, which also yields the Giraffatitan, Allosaurus, and Kentrosaurus. A related animal, perhaps the same species, was found in the Morrison Formation.
    Unfortunately the skull was missing and only one skeleton of Elaphrosaurus has been found. It was very much longer than its thigh bone, which shows that it could probably run very fast. The characteristic features of Elaphrosaurus were that they had no teeth and it’s impossible to say whether it might belong to this family. Loose teeth have been found in same sediment and that may belongs to that dinosaur family.
    Elaphrosaurus was discovered by Werner Janensch in 1920 and it’s displayed in Natural History Museum

Elaphrosaurus facts:
Name:     Elaphrosaurus "lightweight lizard"
Size:     20 ft long
Main Facts:     Elaphrosaurus was very much longer than its thigh bone, which shows that it could probably run very fast.

Coelurus

      Coelurus had a small, low head like all the members of coelurid family which is about 8 in/20 cm long. Coelurus a genus of coelurosaur dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period means "hollow tail". Only one species is currently familiar, C. fragilis, described by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879 and it’s displayed in the Natural History Museum, London.
       Coelurus Dinosaur was a small bipedal carnivore with elongated legs and the hollow, birdlike bones (slender and considerably more elongate respect to fumur length) that characterized all early dinosaurs. The neural canal is also large in coelurus, although it is not elliptical but square.
       The bone is 7.9 cm long and 1.1 cm tall, its vertebrae were long and low and thin walls to the bodies of the vertebrae.
      The three best-known small theropods are Coelurus, Ornitholestes, and Tanycolagreus. Now Coelurus is possible to distinguish from Ornitholestes by various characteristics of their anatomy were Coelurus had a longer back and neck than Ornitholestes, and longer, more slender legs and feet. Coelurus and Tanycolagreus are more similar, but differ in a variety of details like shape of the upper arm, forearm, and thigh bones.
      This active predator lived in forests of North America where prey was rich. Its three clawed fingers were long and strong which is designed for grasping the flesh of small animals like lizards and mammals.

Coelurus facts:
Name:     Coelurus (hollow tail)
Size:     140cm long and 70cm tall
Main Facts:     Coelurus had a small, low head that charecerized all early dinosaurs.

Procompsognathus

       Procompsognathus is a genus of small theropod dinosaur, meat eating dinosaur and also one of the earliest dinosaur which is lived during Triassic times.
      Procompsognathus Dinosaur is about 1.2 meters long (4 ft), had long hind legs, short arms, large clawed hands, a long slight snout with many small teeth, and also had a stiff tail. It’s lived in inland environment and would have chased after small lizards and insects and other small prey on its long legs running with only 3 of its 4 toes touching the ground.
     Procompsognathus was named by Eberhard Fraas in 1913 and it was found in the Natural History Museum in London. The primitive features like each hand of Procompsognathus had 5 fingers, since the trend in the more advanced dinosaurs was to have fewer fingers and toes.
     It has historically been considered a theropod dinosaur, although some have found Procompsognathus to be a primitive, non-dinosaurian ornithodiran.

Procompsognathus facts:
Name:     Procompsognathus (small theropod dinosaur)
Size:     4ft long and 10 inches tall
Main Facts:     Procompsognathus was a earliest dinosaur that covered northern Europe during Triassic period.

Ornithomimus

   Ornithomimus  ('bird mimic') is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous which is mainly characterized by a three-toed foot, long slender arms and a long neck with a birdlike skull. It also had a small, thin boned head with a large brain cavity and beaklike jaws.
     Ornithomimus Dinosaur differs from other ornithomimids, like Struthiomimus, in having very slender, straight hand and foot claws and fingers of related lengths. It had sprinted along with its body parallel to ground, balanced by its long and out-stretched tail and it was kept stiff by strong ligaments that lashed the vertebrae to form a rigid structure. Its neck have curved upward in a long bend and holding the head for good visibility by means of large eyes.
     The arms of Ornithomimus have dangled above the ground with dexterous and clawed fingers which is held ready to grasp potential food. It was bipedal and resembled an ostrich, which is 12 ft (3.5 meters) long, 7 feet (2.10 meters) high and weighed around 100–150 kg. It also seems to have feeding habits more like that of a duck than an ostrich.
     Like other ornithomimids, it may also eat leaves, fruits, insects and other small animals like lizards and mammals and it even raided the nests of other dinosaurs and eaten their eggs, pecking through shells with its horny beak. It might run away at a speed of upto 30mph/50 kmph. Ornithomimus was first discovered by J.B.Hatcher in Denver Colorado. Its now displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

Ornithiomimus facts:
Name:     Ornithomimus (bird mimic)
Size:     20 ft long and 8 ft tall
Main Facts:     Ornithomimus was a meat and plant eaters and could probably run like an Ostritch.

Struthiomimus

      Truthiomimus Dinosaur (ostrich mimic) is a genus of ornithomimid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period of Alberta, Canada. Struthiomimus was discovered in the year 1914 which was thought to be as like Ornithomimus. But after research in 1972, it shows that both were differ. It had longer arms and stronger, curved claws on its fingers. It’s now displayed at the American Museum of Natural History.
      The first known fossils of Struthiomimus were named as Ornithomimus sedens by Othniel Charles Marsh. The bipedal Struthiomimus was about 4.3mts long and 1.4mts tall and weighed around 150 kilograms.
      Struthiomimus had a usual build and skeletal structure for an ornithomimid and its eyes were large, jaws were toothless. Its vertebral column had ten neck vertebrae, sixteen back vertebrae, six hip vertebrae, and an unknown number of tail vertebrae. Its legs were only moderately elongate and its feet were elongate with three toes tipped by claws.
     Struthiomimus, being a member of Coelurosauria, most likely had feathers especially if the Ornithomimosauria and the alvarezsauridae are closely related. It appears like modern ground birds such as ostriches and emus. It’s believed to be the fastest dinosaurs and it may able to run faster than ostriches.

Struthiomimus facts:
Name:     Struthiomimus Dinosaur (ostrich mimic)
Size:     11 ft long and 4.6 ft tall
Main Facts:     Struthiomimus had longer arms and curved claws on its finger which is closely related to Ornithomimosauria.